Jorge Santiesteban, president of Local 355 of Unite-Here, and Andre J. Balash, the local’s secretary-treasurer, were charged with misusing union funds for personal expenses and other ethics code violations.

But wait, the union’s top brass is careful to not stand on principle when its members’ money is involved:

In a statement of disciplinary charges filed April 4, 2006, board investigator Howard O’Leary Jr. said Balash knowingly associated with Rocco J. Panaro, who was banned from contact with union officials as part of a 1992 consent decree that resolved racketeering charges against the union’s New York local.